Galaxy Z Flip, 3 months later: Still love it, still don’t recommend it

If you told me about all the things that would happen in 2020 last year, I would shake my head in disbelief. This includes the fact that I want that Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone. When it launched in February, I was skeptical because just a year earlier, Galaxy Fold reviewers had a number of issues. Then there was that Motorola Razr. It started before the flip and although it was more expensive and had less impressive specs, I found the approach to foldable design more appealing.

Fast forward so far, and that Galaxy Z Flip convinced me. I use it like a regular phone, which seems silly, but one of my biggest problems with foldable phones is that they don’t quite stand up to real use. At first I took care of the phone; Now I’m less careful and it still holds.

The Galaxy Z Flip in particular is fun and I don’t say that about many cell phones. Folding and unfolding is as much fun as the first time I’ve done it. Closing the phone to end a call gives me satisfaction that I don’t get iPhone 11 Pro or pixel 4. And when I open it with a whip-like movement of my wrist, I feel like an ass.

I know the Galaxy Z Flip isn’t the perfect or most powerful phone. It doesn’t have the best cameras or battery life. It is ridiculously expensive. And yet I can’t stop using it. Is the Galaxy Z Flip worth $ 1,380 after three months? Yes. The high price reflects that it is a phone that can be physically halved. Should you pay $ 1,380 for this phone? No. But for those of you who want to flirt with the wild west of cell phone design, the Z Flip offers a lot to enjoy.

The beautiful but cursed display of the Z Flip

I love and hate this display. When it’s clean, the big narrow screen is amazing and alive. Videos look great. The aspect ratio of 21.9: 9 is also very wide, so the sides of most videos have black bars. However, I watched widescreen films like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly that fit the display incredibly well.

But once in a while, the plastic polymer coating interfered with the beauty of the screen, especially if there were fingerprints on the screen that seem to attract the coating indefinitely. If I wipe stains clean with my shirt sleeve, they won’t come off as easily as a phone without plastic polymer.

Then there is the fold. Ah, the crease. One thing that I noticed after three months is that I constantly feel the crease with my fingers. The Z Flip folds across the center of the screen. When I scroll through apps like Instagram or Twitter, my finger runs over it like a car rolling over a seam in a concrete driveway. But that doesn’t really bother me and because it’s a horizontal fold instead of the vertical fold on the Galaxy Fold, I actually see it less. For me, the fold is like background music in a restaurant. I notice it but forget about it after a while. Just like I got used to notches on phones, I’m now used to the fold.

The Z Flip’s flex mode

It gives me immense pleasure how small the phone is closed. I never hesitate to take it with me as it is very easy to carry (although the mileage in women’s pockets may vary). The Z Flip opens to a phone that is as big as that Galaxy S20 Ultra, albeit a Skinner version of it.

I like having to open the phone to use it because I am more selective in what I do. The only time this is boring is sending messages. I have to open the phone to read and reply to a text, and then I close it. If I get another answer, I have to start over. I would be very happy if I could even reply to external messages with my voice.

Over time, I stopped closing the phone so often and instead left it open at a 90 degree angle. This made it look like a mini laptop and I could keep a message thread open or mindlessly scroll through Instagram or Twitter. Samsung calls this flex mode for half the position and is also ideal for filming vertical videos. I honestly didn’t expect to use the Z Flip as a video camera so often, but in Flex mode, the phone becomes its own tripod, which means that I had more options to get the perfect shot than one normal phone.

In the next version of the Z Flip, I hope Samsung takes more account of the aspect of video recording. There are rumors that the Galaxy Z Flip 2 will have a third outdoor camera. If this turns out to be the case, you have the option of making the Z Flip the ultimate phone for video recording. Samsung would have to make the third camera identical to the main camera, but rotate it 90 degrees (think Motorola One Action). This allows the phone to record vertical video with the existing two cameras and horizontal video with the third camera in Flex mode.

Flex mode also has a software component in which apps adapt to the L-shaped position. But only a few apps use it and even then it feels limited. For example, the Gallery app places photos in the top half and navigation controls in the bottom half. However, when I edit a photo, the image moves from the top half of the screen to the center. Why not hold it in the top part of the screen and use the bottom half to make adjustments?

With Android 10, I can display two apps on a split screen, which I did for zoom meetings (above) and email (below). It’s a great way to use the device without holding it. But here too the functionality is limited.

One of the things I enjoy most when I position the Z Flip at different angles is that I can put the phone around my face when I’m on the phone instead of holding it flat. It is so early in the 2000s and I enjoy it almost as much as ending calls by closing the phone.

The small teen weenie outdoor display

The tiny, pill-shaped display on the outside of the phone is incredibly cool and minimalist, but it’s also kind of useless. I enjoy seeing the time and battery status and skipping tracks in Spotify. However, the display turns off too quickly to read notifications and I can’t find a setting to adjust it.

Taking selfies with it is also a strange experience. The display becomes the viewfinder and allows the use of the outdoor cameras for higher resolution pictures. However, the preview on the screen is misleading as it does not reflect the actual frame of the photo.

The usefulness of outdoor displays on foldable phones is different. The one on the Galaxy Fold tries to do too much and feels tight. On the other hand, the Galaxy Z Flip’s screen is terribly simple. The Motorola Razr hits the sweet spot between the two.

I understand that phone manufacturers need to strike a balance between the size and usefulness of outdoor displays, but that of the Z Flip can still be improved. Samsung could go the Motorola way and make the screen a little bigger or display notifications longer. It also needs to have some features so that users can perform basic actions with notifications.

Dust, dirt and durability

When the Z Flip hit the market, there were concerns about its flexible display and long-term durability. After three months of regular use, I don’t see a single scratch or cut on the display (although there are many stains again). The body has a tiny scratch when the phone slid from my desk to the floor. While we are dealing with this topic, I have not dropped the phone, but it has dropped by itself several times. The outside coating is ridiculously slippery and there have been many times I left it on a counter or table and came back to find it on the floor because it slipped.

When closed, there is an air gap between the two halves of the screen. The only downside I noticed is that dust and lint build up on the display. Unlike with Galaxy Fold test devices, I had no problems getting dirt or dust under the display or in the hinge mechanism.

My biggest advantage in terms of durability is that I can use it like a normal old smartphone. I don’t baby this phone or worry that I could break it. Daily use for months and years is the real test of its durability.

Last year’s performance is okay

In terms of performance, using the Z Flip is equivalent to using a Samsung Galaxy S10E. Neither is at the top of the Samsung spec pile. This title goes to the equally priced Galaxy S20 Ultra. But I never felt constrained by the phone’s performance. Animations look smooth and apps start quickly. However, I wonder how long this phone will last in terms of software support.

The battery, which is mediocre, is perhaps the biggest compromise compared to a normal phone. I can hardly get through a day and a late afternoon fee is typical. It’s not terrible, but it needs to be charged until dinner.

Galaxy S10 cameras on the Galaxy Z Flip

I won’t go into details about cameras (just Check the original rating for this information). In short, the cameras are good, but not great. It is essentially the S10 camera system, which includes an ultra wide-angle camera (with lower resolution than the S10) and a main wide-angle camera without a double aperture. The photo and video image quality gets a solid B compared to the A + of the Google Pixel 4 or iPhone 11 Pro.

In use, the camera always had the option of taking a photo or video in any situation. Heck, there is even night mode for this puppy. Watch the following video, which is made entirely of footage shot on the Galaxy Z Flip.

Ultimately, I think there’s a lot to admire about the Galaxy Z Flip, but for most people it’s still far more of an experiment than a reliable daily driver. That said, if you want the cutting edge, warts and everything, it’s definitely worth checking it in a store (if we can do it again) or waiting for it to go on sale.